Losing streak ended at Royal Bafokeng Stadium
The Springboks ended their long-running losing streak with a nail-biting 21-20 win over the All Blacks at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg on Saturday -- South Africa's first win of the 2006 Tri-Nations tournament.
The teams scored two tries each, but Pretorius landed a 78th-minute penalty to put the Boks into the lead, which they clung on for their first win since June.
It not only ended a five-match losing streak for South Africa, it punctuated New Zealand's 15-match winning run.
Wow! Take common sense and form and reason and throw them all away when 15 men stand up and decide that that other 15 -- the best in the world, they say -- are also just 15 men and can be beaten. Take a team beleaguered, belittled and befuddled and give them a chance to play rugby football with serious determination and throw predictions in the bin.
This is the glory of sport -- the upset. This is the glory of sport -- rival against rival in nail-biting contest.
The Springboks had little going for them -- a dilapidated season, playing on a ground they had never played on before to rob them of the advantage of being in their own "country" and with a threadbare crowd that spent much of the match like a sedate crowd of cricket watchers at a five-day test.
Then when the crowd sensed the possibility of a Springbok victory they got right behind the Springboks. After all just being there proved their loyalty to the cause.
After the match Mils Muliaina said that the Springboks deserved to win, and that would be fair. There was just a single point in it and obviously the All Blacks could have won but this time the pressure told and they became uncharacteristic -- their handling unsure. Their captain Richie McCaw said that they had become frantic and lacked the composure which instead the Springboks had. Perhaps chasing records produces counter-productive pressure of its own. Perhaps having nothing but pride to lose produces winning determination.
Problems for the All Blacks started at the line-out. They lost six to the Springboks and threw one in skew. That was telling, and this time the Springboks used the ball won far better than they had done in their previous four Tri-Nations matches. When Jason Eaton came on the All Black line-out got onto an even keel but by then a lost line-out had given the Springboks their second try.
For their part the Springboks did what people had been imploring them to do -- play with the ball in hand and play wide, for the All Blacks may be great attackers out wide but they are not great defenders there.
At flyhalf André Pretorius set his men running and they attacked space. It was his brilliant pass that sent Pedrie Wannenburg plunging for the try.
The much-questioned Springbok loose forwards did well enough. Jerry Collins was great for New Zealand and Richie McCaw was the boss of the tackle but otherwise the Springboks were well and truly in the game.
It was a day to remember at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace outside the western town of Rustenburg with its platinum mine. It was a day when the Springboks struck gold.
There was a time when it looked as if it was going to be the chaos of Springs in 1964 but the gates were thrown open to let the people in, just in time. There were singable anthems, the controversial throat-cutting haka and then a gripping match on an outstanding playing surface.
In the first couple of minutes Wannenburg dashed up and thumped Doug Howlett to ground. Then the Springboks played wide to their right but Akona Ndungane was penalised for hanging on. Penalties continue to blight the Springboks game. In this match the count was 12-10 against them and seven of their dirty dozen are for tackle/ruck offences.
South Africa scored first when Rodney So’oialo was penalsied for going into the side of a maul. He was also the player penalised last, and that was the one that counted as Pretorius set up his ball on a sand castle, peaked out from under a boxer's eyebrow and goaled the vital, winning kick.
After Fourie du Preez kicked the ball away Aaron Mauger had a frightening break which suggested that Springbok defence was leaky indeed but from then on it was, as John Smit described it "alert".
Having kicked badly and having missed a tackle Du Preez then went into the side of a tackle and was penalised. Carter goaled to make it 3-3 after nine minutes.
When Ali Williams for a sceond time interfered with a line-out jumper in the air, Pretorius made it 6-3 after 16 minutes.
Then the All Blacks scored one of those tries that they make look so incredulously easy.
From a line-out after a poor clearing kick by Pretorius, they went left with Joe Rokocoko coming in from the right wing and Howlett sprinting down the left to send Sitiveni Sivivatu running. Back they came right where Chris Jack took Carter's pass, which may have been meant to be a skip pass, and the big lock charged at the posts. He got a pass to Jerry Collins who would surely have scored if he had not let Carter do so. Carter converted and the All Blacks led 10-6.
Was this the sign of things to come? Hindsight answers that.
The Springboks responded almost immediately when So’oialo dithered and then passed to his right. The pass reached Bryan Habana who did what he did so well last year -- intercepted and jogged off for a try under the posts. Pretorius converted. 13-10 after 20 minutes.
The score stuck on that for 20 minutes till just before half-time when AJ Venter made an appearance in the match, falling on the tackle area to be penalised and enable Carter to give his side parity at 13-all at half-time.
Not that nothing happened in those 20 minutes: Os du Randt went off with a cut head, Carter -- astounding to relate -- missed a penalty kick at goal. Rokocoko set the All Blacks going left and right. The Springboks won a turn-over and Matfield, in his favourite position of fly-half, grubbered into touch. The Springboks won an All Black throw into a line-out five metres from their own line but Carter smashed Du Preez back for a five-metre scrum. The All Blacks bashed and then lost the "use it or lose it" maul. The Springboks cleared but not out and the All Blacks were counter-attacking with Jerry Collins breaking. The All Blacks went over. Andrew Hore grounded the ball under the Springbok posts. The referee consulted the television match official, Hugh Watkins of Wales, and he advised that So’oialo had obstructed Jean de Villiers. Instead of a try the All Blacks were penalised.
So’oialo did not have the sport of game he will want prominently in his memory bank.
The second half belonged mainly to South Africa. Pretorius tried to drop at goal three times. The first attempt was charged down and he missed the other two by substantial margins.
The Springboks attacked and Chris Jack intercepted but the big man lacked the legs to carry him 70 metres.
Then Collins counter-attacked and Ndungane intercepted well inside his 22, but Rokocoko mowed him down without the possibility of a try.
The Springboks now sent on Breyton Paulse and Ruan Pienaar. Pienaar was at scrum-half this time and had a great 27 minutes.
The Springboks won an All Black line-out and went far left. Then they came back right and Pierre Spies straightened for the line. In straightening he took out three defenders. The ball came back to the Springboks quickly -- Pienaar to Pretorius going further right. Under pressure Pretorius got a perfect pass to Wannenburg who scored far out. The conversion was missed. Later that seemed a crucial miss.
Going left Muliaina slipped a perfect grubber behind the Springboks backs and into their in-goal area where Rokocoko got to the ball first and got it down for a try far out. Carter's boot was true and the All Blacks led 20-18 with 14 minutes to play.
Pretorius did much to keep the Springboks in All Black territory as he probed the diagonals. They also had the ball in hand and De Villiers looked to have got away but a great Carter tackle pulled him down.
The All Blacks were in Springbok territory on the Springbok left. Howlett was penalsied for diving on Paulse, and Pienaar kicked the penalty down onto the All Black 22. He kicked because Pretorius was having trouble with cramp and Butch James was off the bench and looking likely to replace him. This was significant in the unfolding drama.
The Springboks won the subsequent line-out and the All Blacks were penalised. Cramp forgotten, Pretorius's nerve and body held as he goaled the kick that made the score 21-20 to the Springboks.
There was 1 minute and 17 seconds left on the clock.
It was still not time to rejoice -- not against the All Blacks who can score from anywhere.
The Springboks got the kick-off and kicked the ball out. The All Blacks got the ball from the line-out and attacked. Felled in a tackle by BJ Botha, the great McCaw lost the ball forward. It was a scrum to the Springboks. Do or die. The scrum fell down and was reset. It fell again and the siren went. The ball had to be fed into the scrum. It fell again and had to be reset. The Springboks won the ball. Kick it out and the game would have been won. But Wannenburg picked up and dummied Kellher as he drove forward. A pile of All Blacks fell on him. The referee decided the situation was unplayable and blew the final whistle.
The unlikely had happened.
There were speeches and the King of the Bafokeng presented the Freedom Cup to South Africa, wrongfully it seems. They were also, after all, the last team to beat the All Blacks before the mighty New Zealanders went on their winning spree, a spree which has come to an end after fourteen glorious months.
Man of the Match: Daniel Carter and Jerry Collins were magnificent for New Zealand, such effective players and Aaron Mauger was back again to give direction. For the Springboks there was a choice between André Pretorius and his steel nerve or the exuberance of young Pierre Spies who was playing just his third Test. Our Man of the Match is Pierre Spies.
Moment of the Match: There was Bryan Habana's intercept. There was the television match official's verdict that Rodney So'oialo had obstructed and so there was no try for Andrew Hore. But our moment of the match is that last penalty kick at goal by Andre Pretorius that flew, straight and true, between the winning uprights.
Villain of the Match: Perhaps for his crucial errors Rodney So'oialo would be a candidate. But by and large people behaved.
The scorers:
For South Africa:
Tries: Habana, Wannenburg
Con: Pretorius
Pens: Pretorius 3
For New Zealand:
Tries: Carter, Rokocoko
Cons: Carter 2
Pens: Carter 2
Teams:
South Africa: 15 Jaque Fourie, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 André Pretorius, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 AJ Venter, 7 Pierre Spies, 6 Pedrie Wannenburg, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Johann Muller, 3 BJ Botha, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Lawrence Sephaka, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Butch James, 22 Breyton Paulse.
New Zealand: 15 Doug Howlett, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Malili Muliaina, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Rodney So’oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Anton Oliver, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Marty Holah, 20 Byron Kelleher, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Rico Gear.
Referee: Chris White
Touch judges: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Eric Darrière (France)
Television match official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Assessor: Michel Lamoulie (France)
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